Mikel B. Classen and Jon C. Stott, award-winning authors of travel books, provide expert guidance for beer aficionados and tourists to visit the 29 unique craft breweries and brewpubs of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in Yooper Ale Trails.

The tours to breweries are organized geographically from the east UP to the west side into eight picturesque ale trails. Each brewery or brewpub has its own story. Classen and Stott have captured the essence of the beer scene in the UP since the mid-1990s. Classen suggests planning six months for an ale trail trip.

“The book itself is a little bit of a roadbook too, you get a good breakdown of beers we found there,” Classen said.

Listen to the episode to win a signed hardcover copy of Yooper Ale Trails.

Sponsored by Moravian Sons Distillery and Doc Chavent.

book podcasts, Indie authors, writing

Peg Herring pens novel Fake

October 23, 2024 emmapalova Leave a comment

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ha5k3-1717e46

Author Peg Herring Peg Herring is a former educator who lives in northern Lower Michigan. Her Tudor mysteries starring Princess/Queen Elizabeth garnered nice reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, New York Journal of Books, and Library Journal. The first book of her paranormal series, The Dead Detective Agency, received a Best Mystery of the Year Award from EPIC. In 2014 Peg stole her grandmother’s name and started writing cozy mysteries. Since then, Peg has written women’s fiction and suspense while Maggie Pill writes cozies.

Sponsored by Moravian Sons Distillery and Doc Chavent.

Kip Morgan is a fake with worries…and they’re multiplying. Kip Morgan is a con artist who urgently needs to elude the authorities. He sees an ad from a firm seeking a private investigator in a new town with a new name. Kip applies, figuring he knows as much about crime as most detectives, though from a different vantage point. Kip gets the job at Waite Investigations because his new bosses, Jocelyn and Maureen Waite, have figured out that clients look for youngish male P.I.s, not two sixty-plus women too easily dismissed as “little old ladies.” Though he has plans to acquire a chunk of their fortune, Kip finds there’s a lot more to the Waites than he’d imagined. As he tries to adjust to fussy Mo and quiet Jo, a houseful of secrets soon gets out of hand, and Kip the Conman has a lot more to worry about than being exposed as a FAKE.

Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of FAKE.

book marketing, book podcasts, books, giveaway, Halloween, humor, Uncategorized

October authors

October 7, 2024 Author Emma Palova Leave a comment

Happy October. Brrr….

I am excited about my October author guests: Nancy Besonen, Mikel Classen, Peg Herring, Allison Spooner, and Craig Brockman.

Sponsored by Doc Chavent and Moravian Sons Distillery https://moraviansonsdistillery.com

The October lineup is a delightful mix of fiction and non-fiction authors from all over the USA. Spooky and non-spooky. Let’s start the month with funny UP author Nancy Besonen, a journalist with a weekly column Off The Hook. I will go live on Halloween with author Craig Brockman and his novel Dead Silence at 5 p.m. Mark your calendars.

Besonen is a former Chicago South Sider whose problem with fishing landed her in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, reporting for the L’Anse Sentinel to help support her habit. Her weekly humor column titled Off the Hook filled vital white space while having raucous good fun with every aspect of Northwoods living, and beyond. Nancy and her husband, Don, have three children and a small herd of grandchildren who provide love, laughter, frequent spills, and abundant inspiration.

Stay tuned for a post about upcoming special episodes about the times we live in.

book podcasts, Indie authors, writing

U.P. author Nancy Besonen pens Off The Hook 1 & 2

October 7, 2024 emmapalova Leave a comment

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-k7svk-16fac5c

Nancy Besonen’s “Off The Hook,” published in 2023, is a collection of humor columns she successfully slipped by her editor over a 30-year reporting career for L’Anse Sentinel.

However, there were still a few very silly things left unsaid. Shamelessly borrowing from her original recipe, she unleashed her second and final installment, “Off The Hook Too!,” in 2024, rounding out what she likes to call “The Compleat Works of Nancy Besonen.” (take that, William Shakespeare!)

Sponsored by Doc Chavent and Moravian Sons Distillery

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Art in the Park Saugatuck

September 13, 2024 Author Emma Palova Leave a comment

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Join us tomorrow for Art in the Park Saugatuck from 10 am to 4 pm.

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Never forget Sept. 11 attacks in 2001

September 11, 2024 Author Emma Palova Leave a comment

As we mark the 23rd anniversary of the 911 attacks, I reflect on that ominous Tuesday. I still remember exactly where I was: I was covering the Ionia County Board of Commissioners, their finance committee meeting for the Ionia Sentinel-Standard.

County administrator Mark Howe announced the bad news to a speechless audience. Then we quickly dispersed.

Remembering 9/11

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Art in the Park Saugatuck

September 8, 2024 Author Emma Palova Leave a comment

Join us in Wick’s Park in Saugatuck on Sept. 14 from 10 am to 4 pm.

book podcasts, Indie authors, writing

Author Sarah Geddes pens Henry the Sleeping Dragon

August 27, 2024 emmapalova Leave a comment

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-f7ptt-16b421f

Life as a dragon should be amazing. You can soar across the sky and breathe fire. However, when you are a young, clumsy dragon who sneezes fire at all the worst moments, it makes life a little challenging. Desperate to make friends and finally feel accepted, Henry takes off across the savanna, but trouble seems to follow him at every turn.

Summary for To the Moon: A Jacob and Trevor Adventure
Jacob and Trevor are brothers and the best of friends. They have avid imaginations and love to play make-believe. Their favorite thing is playing on their saucer swing and pretending to fly to the moon. One day when Jacob loses a tooth, the tooth fairy comes – but she has run out of money and decides to leave fairy dust instead. The boys use the fairy dust to go on an adventure of a lifetime!

Bio: Sarah Geddes is a 6th grade Language Arts teacher. She has taught middle school in a virtual setting since 2007 and loves to help students explore the world and their imagination through books. She has two boys (ages 5 and 7) who love to cuddle up and read. Watching their eyes light up when turning the page of a book has inspired her to put her own stories down on paper.

Listen in to win a signed copy of Henry the Sneezing Dragon.

Sponsored by Moravian Sons Distillery and Doc Chavent.

book podcasts, Indie authors, writing

gr_Interview_with_Sarah_Geddes_Henry_the_Sneezing_Dragon__20240822_170724

August 27, 2024 emmapalova Leave a comment

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-f7ptt-16b421f

book marketing, book tours, books, bookstores, Czech events, Czech heritage, Czech historic events, Uncategorized

56th anniversary of Prague Spring 1968

August 21, 2024 Author Emma Palova Leave a comment

On this day, Aug. 21 I always observe the anniversary of the Soviet occupation of former Czechoslovakia which prompted an exodus of entire generations of Czechs and Slovaks. We were among them searching for our place in the free world. And we found it in the USA in the early 1970s.

While living in the free world, I’ve made several observations based on my experience from the old socialist and new capitalist worlds. I’ve been privileged enough to compare the two. Here are my insights.

Nothing is more valuable than personal and societal freedom; the freedom to do business and religious freedom. No one has ever considered us as “Auslanders” or outsiders in the USA as new doors opened ahead of us.

We took on new challenges and opportunities as we built on our experience in different countries including Canada and Africa. I can’t speak for the rest of the family, but I have no regrets about leaving the old country. I honor the traditions, and the past while moving ahead.

Whenever I talk about my Greenwich Meridian Memoir, memories come back to me in a good way. I use them constructively to avoid the mistakes made by many, which is not always easy.

“I feel lucky to be standing here and telling this story,” I usually conclude my talk.

Unfortunately, history repeats itself, if we don’t guard it carefully.

Stand up for freedom.

My next author’s event will be on Sept. 14- Saugatuck Art in the Park from 10 am to 4 pm in Wicks Park at 449 Water St.